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World Congress of Families Selects Salt Lake City for Summit

Major international exporter of anti-LGBT bigotry picks Salt Lake City as next host city for its annual convention

7/1/2014Washington–– The Human Rights Campaign (HRC), the nation’s largest lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) civil rights organization, today responded to the World Congress of Families’ announcement that it will host its next annual summit in Salt Lake City, UT in the fall of 2015. In addition, the group is holding its traditional pre-summit planning meetings in Salt Lake City on October 22ndand 23rd of this year.

Labeled a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center, The World Congress of Families (WCF) is considered by some to be the nerve center for much of the American-led anti-LGBT advocacy abroad. It spreads hateful rhetoric and promotes anti-LGBT legislation around the world, and it has hosted large annual conventions of international “family” activists since 1997. WCF has been most active in Russia and Eastern Europe, and planned to host this year’s summit at the Kremlin in Moscow. But following the Russian annexation of Crimea, it was forced to temporarily suspend this year’s gathering, which it appears to have now cancelled. The Salt Lake City World Congress of Families next year would be the first ever hosted in the United States.

“Hate is not an American value, and the World Congress of Families must stop exporting their vicious brand of anti-LGBT bigotry abroad,” said Ty Cobb, HRC’s Director of Global Engagement. “Despite claiming to be an international organization, the American-led World Congress of Families annually gathers a collective of the most globally active haters from our country to plot out anti-LGBT work around the world. The words and actions of this organization and its extremist affiliates harm LGBT people from Russia to Nigeria and beyond. We urge the citizens of Salt Lake City to make it clear that the mission of the World Congress of Families does not align with their values.”

WCF officials have been frequent visitors to Russia and have met with high ranking members of the Russian government and other influential policymakers, including Yelena Mizulina, a member of the Duma and the author of Russia’s anti-LGBT “propaganda” legislation. A WCF spokesman claimed that the organization played an important role in the passage of this and other “pro family” legislation in Russia. The WCF has also held events acrossEastern Europe in an attempt to drum up support for more anti-LGBT laws and suppress events such as pride marches.

The World Congress of Families has also been active in Africa. It has held events in Nigeria and Kenya, and sponsored an event keynoted by the First Lady of Uganda in New York. In 2009, WCF spokesman Don Feder urged Nigerians at a conference in Abuja to do "the opposite" of what the West asked, and another WCF representative visited Nigeria in 2012 to speak on “healthy sexuality” and “children’s rights vs. children’s needs.”

The Human Rights Campaign is America's largest civil rights organization working to achieve lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender equality. By inspiring and engaging all Americans, HRC strives to end discrimination against LGBT citizens and realize a nation that achieves fundamental fairness and equality for all.

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5 Things to Know about LGBTQ Issues

1. There are roughly 10 million LGBTQ adults in the U.S., or roughly 4.1 percent of the population.

2. Sixteen percent of same-sex couples are raising children according to the U.S. Census Bureau's 2011 Current Population Survey.

3. There is no federal law that consistently protects LGBTQ individuals from employment discrimination; there are no state laws in 28 states that explicitly prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation, and in 30 states that do so based on gender identity.

4. More than 50 anti-LGBTQ bills have been filed in 19 state legislatures in the 2017 state legislative session.

5. The FBI reported 1,167 hate crimes based on sexual orientation or gender identity in 2015. This is likely a dramatic undercount since thousands of agencies didn't submit any data and reporting is not mandatory.